title: [AICA anatomic variation as a factor of worse prognosis for the surgical treatment of hemi-facial spasm].
abstract: Hemifacial spasm is a neurovascular compression syndrome. These consist in a contacting vessel (most often an artery) to a cranial nerve in cerebelar-pontine angle. The most common is trigeminal neuralgia caused by contact between the superior cerebellar artery and the trigeminal nerve, and less commonly hemifacial spasm, vertiginous syndrome by contact of the antero inferior cerebelar artery with the eighth cranial nerve, glossopharyngeal neuralgia by contact of the postero inferior cerebelar artery and the IX cranial nerve, etc. These syndromes typically occur after the fifth decade of life, when the arterial tortuosity increases due to the arteriosclerosis process. They are however associated anatomical variations of the origin and course of the arteries, which facilitate contact with the nerves of the cerebellar-pontine angle. In hemifacial spasm, the vessel most often related is antero inferior cerebelar and the authors describe a case of a rare anatomical variant in the course of the artery that motivated the development of the disease, which was identified intraoperatively on a surgical approach to the cerebellar-pontine for vascular microdescompression.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Neurocirurgia, Hospital Egas Moniz, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reizinho
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casimiro
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luís
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dominguez
mesh_terms: D020771:Anterior Cerebral Artery / Q000002:abnormalities*; D005260:Female; D019569:Hemifacial Spasm / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis